J Trevor Williams (1938–2015): IBPGR director and genetic conservation pioneer

摘要: John Trevor Williams (always known as Trevor), who was Executive Secretary and first Director of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) between 1978 1990, passed away at age 76 on 30 March 2015 his home in Cheshire, UK after a long respiratory illness. One legacy Trevor’s contribution to conservation plant genetic resources can be found deep beneath Arctic permafrost island Spitsbergen, where millions seeds crop varieties wild species—many collected through efforts IBPGR 1970s 1980s—are backup storage Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), popularly ‘Doomsday Vault’. Opened 7 years ago, SGSV is one major achievement plan set motion three decades earlier by establish an international network regional national genebanks. The proposal store samples genebank collections under developed 1988 (IBPGR p. 10), building experience Nordic Genebank that had already used abandoned coal mine same purpose.